Life insurer AIA Singapore and telehealth company WhiteCoat have partnered to offer digital corporate mental health solutions.

The partners are expanding their Think Well programme to provide text, video, and in-person mental health coaching and support to AIA's corporate employee clients. Embedded in AIA's corporate outpatient plans, the programme will also offer "a dynamic and personalised" content library of curated mental wellness resources such as articles and videos.

HOW IT WORKS

Through the WhiteCoat mobile app, users will first have to complete a mental health self-assessment and make a same-day appointment to chat in real-time with a psychologist or counsellor, who can also recommend them follow-up care on a case-by-case basis.

WHY IT MATTERS

More Singaporeans have reported poor mental health last year, especially young adults aged 18-29, according to the recent National Population Health Survey by the Ministry of Health. Another survey by mental health company Intellect recently found that Singaporean employees got worse mental health compared to employees in the Philippines and Indonesia. 

AIA and WhiteCoat's Think Well programme aims to bring such issues to light and spread awareness while promoting a "supportive corporate environment" for mental well-being by expanding access to mental health support and insurance. 

THE LARGER TREND

The Think Well initiative, which began in 2019, started by offering primary care telehealth service with direct insurance claims processing. It eventually expanded to provide omnichannel access to specialist care, home-based care, and now, mental healthcare, via text, video, and in-person consultations. 

Besides WhiteCoat, Intellect, a fellow Singaporean company, has sought partnerships with insurance companies to expand access to corporate mental wellness support. Last year, it landed major partnerships with the Swiss Life Network and MSIG Hong Kong to extend employee mental health solutions to their respective clients. 

ON THE RECORD

"Employers have started acknowledging the importance of providing mental health support to create a sustainable and healthy workplace. By developing the first insurer-backed, synchronous text-based mental wellness service through our platform, we want to positively impact workplace mental health through enhanced accessibility, convenience and privacy," said WhiteCoat CEO and founder Bryan Koh.